Electric railway.



No. 668,7!2. Patented Feb. 26, l90l.

- a. H. DAVIS.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

(Application filed Sept. 15, 1900.) (No Model.) 2 -ShaotsSheet l.

Witnesses: Inventor Attys.

THE ucmms PETERS o0. Pnm'ouma. WASHINGTON, 0. c4 1 Nb. 668,7!2. Patented Feb. 26, I90l.

G. H.. DAVIS.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY. r s umion med Sept. 16, 1900. no Model.) .2 Sheets8heei 2.

Attys.

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Witnesses:

UNITED STATE PATENT OFFIcE.

GEORGE H. DAVIS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO FRANK R. FORD, GEORGE W. 'BACON, AND GEORGE H. DAVIS, OF SAME PLACE.

E-LECTRlC RAILWAY.

SPEQJCFIGATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 668,712, dated February 26, 1901.

Application filed September 15, 1900. serial No. 30,198. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE I-I. DAVIS, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Manhattan, city, county, and State of 5 New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Railways, (Case 0,) of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in electric-railway systems of the type employl ing a working conductor in the form of a third rail running parallel with the way and with which a sliding current-collector makes contact with a side pressure.

My object is to improve the construction and mounting of the working conductor and to improve the construction and mounting of the contact-shoe.

In order that the invention may be better understood, attention is directed to the aczo companying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the working conductor and contact-shoe, the latter being illustrated as carried by the equalizing-bar of the truck; Fig. 2, a plan view of the contact-shoe and its supports; Fig. 3, a cross-sectional view of a modified construction of the contact-shoe adapted to make a trailing sliding contact, and Fig. at a plan view of the device shown in' Fig. 3.

In all of the above views corresponding parts are represented by the same numerals of reference.

1 represents one of the ties carrying the tracks of the line of railway, and 2 one of a series of insulating pedestals or supports which are carried by certain of said ties, so as to be spaced a proper distance apart. Preferably these pedestals are made of recon- 4o structed granite, so called, owing to the strength and high insulating qualities of that material. Carried upon the pedestals 2 is a working conductor 3, forming the third rail, and which is of the general shape of an ordi- 5 nary T-rail, except that the tread is provided with a wider face and is made plane instead of convexed. The rail is secured in place to v the pedestals in any suitable way, preferably by means of bolts 4, which are embedded in the pedestals during the process of molding the latter, as will be understood. In orderto effectively protect the working conductor, I preferably inclose the same by a continuous housing 5, made, essentially, trough-like in cross-section and secured to brackets 6,which are bolted or otherwise fastened to the ties. A supplemental housing 7, is also provided, secured to brackets 8, whereby the working conductor will be substantially inclosed, except for an opening at its side, as shown, for the passage of the contact-shoe. The contact-shoe (shown in Figs. 1 and 2) is com posed of a sliding plow 9, which makes contact with the flat side face of the working conductor, said plow being bolted to a casting 10, which is keyed orotherwise secured to the two plungers 11 11, each working in a casing 12, cast with a base 13, bolted or otherwise secured to an insulating-block 14:, made, preferably, of wood. This block is preferably secured to the equalizing-bar 15 of a truck by means of brackets 16; but it may be carried by other portions of the truck or by the car-body. Spiral springs 17 within the suitable casings 12 force the plungers 11 outwardly to engage the contact-shoe with the working conductor, as will be understood. The outward movement of said plungers is limited by adjusting-nuts 18, secured on the rear ends of said plungers. Normally the parts will be so pro- 'portioned as to permit the springs 17 to force the contact-shoe 9 into elastic engagement with the working conductor and to maintain such shoe in such engagement as the car travels along the line of way. By providing this elastic support for the contact-shoe any slight divergence from strict parallelism between the working conductor and the way will be compensated for, while variations in the vertical height of the working conductor 0 with respect to the way will be permitted by the shoe engaging with different portions of the wide side face of said conductor.

In some instances a sliding trailing-com ductor may be desirable, and for this purpose 5 the form of my device shown "in Figs. 3 and 4t may be used. With this modification I make use of cylinders 19 instead of the easings l2, and mounted within each of said cylinders a piston 20, carrying a transverse pivoted pin 21, on which an arm 22 is pivoted. Both of the arms 22 are pivotally connected with the casting 10, which carries the con-.

plunger 25 is a spiral spring 27, working between the supplemental piston 26 and the removable head 28 for the cylinder 19. In use it will be observed that as the contact-shoe 9 engages with the working conductor the arms 22 22 will be swung rearwardly, the contactshoe being elastically engaged with the working conductor by the tension of the springs 27, which tend to force the plunger-heads 24 into engagement with one of the curved extensions 23 to force the arms 22 forward into line parallel with the plungers 25. In reversing, the contact-shoe 9 trails in the opposite direction, the arms 22 22 swing to the other side, and the plunger-head 24 engages with the other curved extension 23 of each arm. Should the car be reversed while the contact-shoe is in engagement with the working'conductor, the arms 22 22 will be moved to the opposite position, forcing the pistons 20 within the cylinders 19 and against the tension of the springs 27. In this Way I secure the desired elastic engagement between a trailing contact-shoe and the working conductor and at the same time prevent the toggle action which takes place when the car is reversed from doing injury to the parts.

Having now described my invention, what Iclaim as new, and desire to seou re by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1. In an electric railway,'the combination with the way, a car thereon and a contact device carried by the car, of a series of insulating-pedestals carried adjacent to the way and parallel therewith, a working conductor removably carried by said pedestals and being in the form of a T-rail maintained on its side to present a flat vertical contact-surface, a series of brackets supported adjacent to the way on the outside of said pedestals, a housing comprising a top and side member supported by said brackets to inclose the working conductor on its top and on its side away from the way, and an auxiliary housing arranged parallel with the working conductor between the same and the way to form a slot between its upper edge and the top member of the housing or casing, in which the contact device moves longitudinally, substantially as set forth.

2. In an electric railway, the combination with a working conductor, of a pair of pivoted arms, a contact-shoe pivoted to said arms and making contact with the working conductor,'extensions having rounded corners carried by said arms, and a spring-pressed plunger cooperating with said extensions, substantially as set forth.

3. In an electric railway, the combination with a working conductor, a pair of cylinders, a piston in each cylinder, an arm pivoted in each piston, a contact-shoe pivoted to 'said arms, extensions on each of said arms, a plunger cooperating with said extensions, and a spring for forcing each plunger toward the pivots of said arms, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

This specification signed and witnessed this 6th day of September, 1900.

GEO RGE H. DA VIS.

\Vitnesses:

FRANK L. DYER, J NO. R. TAYLOR. 

